Kevin O’Brien, Straight From The Strait – Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation & QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival

Chloe Greaves, Medea – Queensland Theatre

Josh McIntosh, GRIMM – Shake & Stir Theatre Co, QPAC and Brisbane Festival

Renée Mulder, Gaslight – Rodney Rigby, Queensland Theatre, Marriner Group & TEG

Rozina Suliman, Wanderings – The Nest Ensemble/DOOR 3 Queensland Theatre

Lisa Fa’alafi & Leah Shelton, Dangerous Goods – A Polytoxic Production presented by QPAC

Frances Foo, Scenes from a Yellow Peril – The Reaction Theory & BIPOC ARTS AUSTRALIA

Libby McDonnell, Dido and Aeneas – Opera Queensland, in association with Circa

Renée Mulder, Gaslight – Rodney Rigby, Queensland Theatre, Marriner Group & TEG

Deborah Ralston and Seren Wagstaff, Slippery – Curtain World

Jason Glenwright, Straight From The Strait – Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation & QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival

Briana Clark, Scenes From A Yellow Peril – The Reaction Theory & BIPOC ARTS AUSTRALIA

Ben Hughes, 37 – Queensland Theatre & Melbourne Theatre Company

Paul Jackson, Gaslight – Rodney Rigby, Queensland Theatre, Marriner Group & TEG

Geoff Squires, AI May – Embodi Theatre/PIP Theatre

Anna Whitaker, Ready or Not – White Rabbit Theatre & HOTA

Brady Watkins, Moss McGregor and Loki Liddle, Meet Your Maker – Alethea Beetson, Blak Social, Brisbane Festival & Brisbane Powerhouse

Wil Hughes, Blue – A Belvoir Street production, presented by La Boite Theatre

Guy Webster, Cost of Living – Queensland Theatre & Sydney Theatre Company

Guy Webster, GRIMM – Shake & Stir Theatre Co, QPAC and Brisbane Festival

Alethea Beetson, Sasha Parlett, Boneta-Marie Mabo & Ken Weston, Meet Your Maker – Alethea Beetson, Blak Social, Brisbane Festival & Brisbane Powerhouse

Nevin Howell, Eat Slay Zombie – A Playlab Theatre Production, Presented in Partnership with QPAC

Freddy Komp, AI May – Embodi Theatre/PIP Theatre

Craig Wilkinson & Jon Weber, James and the Giant Peach – Shake & Stir Theatre Co & QPAC

Craig Wilkinson, Round The Twist – Queensland Theatre & QPAC

Isaac Drandic, 37 – Queensland Theatre & Melbourne Theatre Company

Chelsea August & Egan Sun-Bin, Scenes From A Yellow Peril – The Reaction Theory & BIPOC ARTS AUSTRALIA

Yaron Lifschitz, Dido and Aeneas – Opera Queensland, in association with Circa

Nadine McDonald-Dowd, Straight From The Strait – Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation & QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival

Lisa Smith, Ready or Not – White Rabbit Theatre & HOTA

Thomas Weatherall, Blue – A Belvoir Street production, presented by La Boite Theatre

Nelle Lee, GRIMM – Shake & Stir Theatre Co, QPAC and Brisbane Festival

Jade Lomas Ronan, Eat Slay Zombie - A Playlab Theatre Production, Presented in Partnership with QPAC

Vaughan Wapau, Straight From The Strait – Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation & QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival

Tibian Wyles, 37 – Queensland Theatre & Melbourne Theatre Company

CJ de Mooi, Banana Crabtree Simon – de Mooi Media

Margi Brown Ash, Wanderings – The Nest Ensemble/DOOR 3 Queensland Theatre

Adam Bartlett, Fun Home – PIP Theatre

Leo Buzac, After The End – Salad Days Collective

Ainslee Palmer, Ready or Not – White Rabbit Theatre & HOTA

Kimie Tsukakoshi, Trent Dalton's Love Stories – Brisbane Festival & QPAC

Helen Cassidy, Medea – Queensland Theatre

Georgia Corowa, Straight From The Strait – Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation & QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival

Anthony Standish, 37 – Queensland Theatre & Melbourne Theatre Company

Nic Van Lits, Round The Twist – Queensland Theatre & QPAC

Micheal Enright, Fun Home – PIP Theatre

Jaya Fisher-Smith, A Night With The Villains – Mira Ball Productions

Greg Gesch, Love Lies Bleeding – Ad Astra

Julia Johnson, Equus – The X Collective

Rebecca Murphy, Julius Caesar – Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble

Scenes From A Yellow Peril – The Reaction Theory & BIPOC ARTS AUSTRALIA

Broadway Bingo – Outside The Jukebox

Horizon – A Playlab Theatre Production

Merrily We Roll Along – Ad Astra

Slippery – Curtain World

Straight From The Strait – Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation & QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival

Dangerous Goods – A Polytoxic Production presented by QPAC

Fun Home – PIP Theatre

Merrily We Roll Along – Ad Astra

Round The Twist – Queensland Theatre & QPAC

Dido and Aeneas – Opera Queensland, in association with Circa

Camp Culture – Dale Woodbridge Brown & Cluster Arts

[gameboy] by Amy Zhang – Presented by Metro Arts and Mad Dance House. Presented as part of Dance24

Suavé – The Pink Flamingo Brisbane

37 – Queensland Theatre & Melbourne Theatre Company

Eat Slay Zombie – A Playlab Theatre Production, Presented in Partnership with QPAC

GRIMM – Shake & Stir Theatre Co, QPAC and Brisbane Festival

Medea – Queensland Theatre

Trent Dalton’s Love Stories – Brisbane Festival & QPAC

Scenes From A Yellow Peril – The Reaction Theory & BIPOC ARTS AUSTRALIA

AI May – Embodi Theatre/PIP Theatre

Banana Crabtree Simon – de Mooi Media

Love Lies Bleeding – Ad Astra

Ready or Not – White Rabbit Theatre & HOTA

Salad Days Collective – Body of Work: After The End, Backdock Arts; Scenes With Girls, PIP Theatre; Love, VENTspace

Sophia Ivanna Hodych – Creation, Co-direction, Co-writing: Art of Courage, Art of Courage UKRAINE, PIP Theatre, Brisbane Immersive,

Adelaide Lukin – Set and Costume Design: Love Lies Bleeding, Ad Astra; Direction: A Balloon Will Pop *at some point during this play, PIP Theatre, East and Under Theatre Co; Mask Design: Art of Courage, Art of Courage Ukraine, PIP Theatre, Brisbane Immersive; Prop Design: Adventures of Peter Rabbit, Small Crown Productions 

Clarise Ooi – Performance: AI May, Embodi Theatre/PIP Theatre

Thomas Weatherall – Creation, Writing, Performance: Blue, A Belvoir Street production, presented by La Boite Theatre

Blue – Playwright: Thomas Weatherall (A Belvoir Street production, presented by La Boite Theatre)

Eat Slay Zombie – Playwright: Alinta McGrady (A Playlab Theatre Production, Presented in Partnership with QPAC)

Ready or Not – Creator: Ainslee Palmer (White Rabbit Theatre & HOTA)

Slippery – Playwright: Esther Dougherty (Curtain World)

Wanderings – Co-writers: Margi Brown Ash, Zac Callaghan & Leah Mercer (The Nest Ensemble/DOOR 3 Queensland Theatre)

Brendan O’Connor, TheatreiNQ

Brendan O’Connor is a workshop builder, set realiser, creator, artist, associate artistic director, mentor, teacher, rigger, and technical crew member.  As Co-founder and Associate Artistic Director of TheatreiNQ in Townsville, Brendan has not just changed many set pieces, floorboards, and lightbulbs, he has greatly impacted the arts and cultural sector in Far North Queensland and enriched the livelihoods of many performers, young people, and members of the public through his practice. Brendan was paramount in the construction of not only TheatreiNQ itself, but also its venue The Clubhouse, which houses all of the company’s mainstage productions and the numerous youth and regional engagement programs run by TheatreiNQ.  He has created and delivered outstanding productions, encouraged and guided young artists, energised and revitalised the community, and inspires all those who know him.

Flipside Circus

Flipside Circus is one of Queensland’s largest youth arts organisations and one of our great success stories.

Since their beginnings in 1994 with community classes under a tree in Davies Park, West End, Flipside have been providing young people across Queensland with the opportunity to learn circus and physical performance regardless of background or circumstances. Focusing on collaboration and celebrating creativity, they foster the development of our next generation of circus and physical theatre artists and create memorable performances on themes that are meaningful to young people, including Matilda nominated shows like 'We Live Here' and 'Wilbur the Optical Whale'.

In 2023, with the support of government and their broader community, the company opened a $2.4 million purpose-built circus training and presentation space in Hamilton, with specialist circus training facilities unlike any other in Australia, enabling emerging and established circus companies in southeast Queensland to collaborate and create new work. The venue faced a fire at the beginning of 2024, remaining closed for repairs until September. Despite this, Flipside stayed committed to their work, delivering 2,104 workshops for 23,381 participants across the state, including 119 programs to 3,860 kids in over 40 communities in regional and remote Queensland and accessible workshops for 1207 participants as a part of their community/social circus program.

Straight From The Strait – Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation & QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival

Straight from the Strait was an ambitious and culturally significant work, several years in the making, the first Torres Strait Island musical and one of the first fully staged TSI stories. As such it carries a weight of responsibility to families and to cultural storytelling, as well as entertaining and informing a broader audience.

The mix of language with limited surtitles meant that English speaking audience members had to guess at times what was being said, reflecting the experience of Torres Strait Islanders themselves at first contact with English speakers.

The response of the community to the work suggests that it will settle into the culture, being performed over and again, not necessarily in its entirety, but as songs, dances and scenes recording this story, which is already deeply embedded in the local history. A significant and lasting undertaking for all the producers involved, exemplifying the potential in this form of collaboration.